Home and Away is an Australian television soap opera. It was created by Alan Bateman and commenced broadcast on the Seven Network on 17 January 1988. Bateman came up with the concept of the show during a trip to Kangaroo Point, New South Wales, where he noticed locals were complaining about the construction of a foster home and against the idea of foster children from the city living in the area. The soap opera was initially going to be called
Refuge, but the name was changed to the "friendlier" title of
Home and Away once production began. The show premiered with a ninety-minute pilot episode. Since then, each subsequent episode has aired for a duration of twenty-two minutes.
Home and Away has become the second longest-running drama series in Australian television, after
Neighbours. In Australia, it is currently broadcast from Mondays to Thursdays at 7:00 pm.